The company’s 2014 annual loss is projected to be $50 million, Crooke said. Given the scale of Isis’s large drug development programs and partnerships, it wouldn’t take much to nudge that figure into profitability, he said. The company had about $631 million in cash as of March 31.

Underscoring that point: Isis announced Tuesday a $15 million milestone payment from AztraZeneca for developing a prostate cancer drug now in Phase 1 trials.

Meanwhile, the Carlsbad biotech continues to develop new drugs, reaching a total of 32 now in various stages of development, Crooke said in his presentation.

From major killers like cancer and heart disease to orphan diseases like spinal muscular atrophy, Isis has powered ahead with numerous drug projects, on its own and in partnership with several major drug and biotech companies. These all use antisense, a gene-blocking technology Isis has pioneered over the 25 years of its existence.

Antisense meets the need for new drugs that traditional drug technologies do not, Crooke said.

“Most of the focus has been about how to manage existing technology,” Crooke said. “For many years I have felt the real problem is that the industry has failed to invest effectively in new, disruptive technologies that alter and improve the health of patients.”

Isis has steadily improved antisense so the drugs are more potent, Crooke said. While the drugs are now injected, oral delivery will become possible, he said, calling it a matter of engineering.

Isis got its first major approval in Jan. 2013, along with partner Genzyme, for the cardiovascular drug Kynamro. Crooke said Kynamro sales have been disappointing, although he didn’t discuss dollar figures.

Due to safety concerns, Kynamro has been approved only as a niche product for patients with a serious hereditary disease called homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia that causes extremely high cholesterol levels. The drug is in Phase 3 testing for another form of the disease, severe heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.

Isis and partners have two other drugs in Phase 3 testing, for a neurodegenerative disease called TTR amyloidosis and for cancer. Another 15 drugs are in Phase 2 trials, including one drug in two trials.